Podcast Promotion

Podcast promotion is crucial to podcast growth.

A lot of work goes into your podcast before publishing your inaugural show. Once you have published your first episode, we have no doubt that you will want to tell people about it. After all, podcasting is about making connections with people. Here are some basic tips for helping you to promote your podcast and grow your audience.

Submit your podcast to iTunes. iTunes is the largest directory for podcasts and it has an audience of 60 million people who search out digital content. Being listed there will increase the chances of someone finding your show.

Submit your podcast to TuneIn. TuneIn is a popular streaming application and website where radio stations and podcasts are listed from around the world. TuneIn also gives you access to listeners on Amazon Echo / Alexa enabled apps for your podcast.

Provide subscribe tools on your website. Convert those new visitors to your website to podcast subscribers by creating a “subscribe to” podcast page with detailed instructions how to subscribe on various applications and directories. This can easily be set up with only a few clicks if you are using the Blubrry PowerPress podcasting plugin.

Tell family and friends. These are the people most likely to share your interests or at least have an interest in what you’re doing. So let them know and encourage them to spread the word.

Get others talking! Positive reviews about your podcast go a long way. We recommend you routinely ask your audience in every episode to leave a review on your listing on iTunes. Each review helps push your podcast further up in iTunes ranking. In addition, when someone blogs about your podcast, the web traffic to your site also gets a positive uptick. It’s a win-win!

Social Media. Twitter, Facebook, Linked in, Tumblr, Instagram, Google Plus and other social media are great places to get the word out about your podcast. Many of them also have communities for podcast producers and are a wealth of information. Some tips:

Start a Twitter account or create a Facebook and G+ page, etc. in the name of your podcast.

Invite your friends to follow and share your posts.

Post interesting tidbits about each show when you publish and at least once a week.

Post other helpful insights about the theme or genre of your show.

Like, follow, share and make comments on other pages in your genre.

Join a community of podcasters. Many podcast producers are fans of the medium and could be possible audience members. They can also help you spread the word. We’re very proud that our Blubrry podcast community is the kind of place where you can make connections. If you produce a video podcast also consider submitting to the Miro Guide, which specializes in video podcasts.

Go to places on the web where your topics are important. Let’s say you create a travel podcast. Head to a popular travel forum and join the conversation. Don’t just show up and announce your show and not participate in the forum. Be helpful. Consider putting your show information in your signature line and make mention of special episodes when they apply to the discussion. You can also leave comments on similar blog posts mentioning an episode that you created that matches the topic on the page. The key is to remember to not be too promotional (spamming). As long as it feels like it truly fits in the conversation, don’t be afraid to mention it.

Connect with other podcasts. Unlike TV or radio shows that are on at certain time, podcasts are non-real-time and can be consumed on demand (which is our strong point). This means that other podcasters in your niche are a great resource to help promote your podcast. Most listeners / viewers do not just listen to one podcast in their area of interest, they listen to several. Why not yours? Make a short promo for your show and send it to other podcasters to promote. Podcast producers in general like promoting other good shows. Be sure to offer to promote other podcasters’ shows.

Also, being a guest on someone’s show and having guests on your show who also produce a podcast are good ways to get your name out there. If you have a popular podcaster in your niche on your show, he or she will promote the fact they are on your show on their show. This will bring you in front of their audience.

YouTube (and other video sharing sites). Having a YouTube channel for your podcast can be a great way for people to find you in your niche. It doesn’t have to be a video podcast, but produce some videos from time to time talking about your subject. Make sure you have a link to your podcast website in the first line of the description. YouTube is the second largest search engine.

Business cards. This might seem old fashioned, but it can work wonders. Whenever you go out, have a few business cards handy with a link to your podcast website and a little about your show. When you are talking to someone about podcasting and your podcast, give them a card. This way they will remember how to find your show. Podcast listening is still not as easy as radio or TV. Giving someone all the info in person will help them find your podcast and might just start them on podcast listening / viewing other shows. This will grow podcasting one person at a time.

Conferences, events and meetups. Going to conferences, meetups, seminars and industry events in your niche can be a powerful way to spread the word about your show. (Don’t forget the business cards!) If you produce a show about cars, what better place to promote than a car show? Maybe print up flyers if they have a community information pegboard or table. Talk to people and tell your story. Some of the best networking and promotion happens between sessions or after hours at such events.

Tap your audience! Use your existing audience to expand your reach. Ask faithful audience listeners to contact you for handouts/business cards, etc. to hand out to their circles. Create swag (promotional merchandise to give away) with your branding on it for your audience to redistribute. Remember, your dedicated audience will gratefully promote your show if asked nicely.

Devoted listeners. We all want devoted, life-long listeners. To earn this, do something such as starting a contest to give away things related to your show. Mention your giveaways and other incentives near the end of your episodes to reward audience members that listen all the way through. Schedule a meetup; get local audience members involved – empowering fans builds stronger loyalty. Fans and listeners love to be featured on the show, and it’s easy to give them a shout-out. Last but not least, create a Patreon account. You can accept donations. Even if you don’t want to make money from Patreon, it’s an easy way to let your audience feel like they’re contributing.

Web and podcast SEO. SEO is critical for your podcast discovery both on the web and iTunes. Web SEO goes beyond podcasting topics and we encourage our users to refer to their favorite research and resources on web SEO. PowerPress users that are interested in podcast SEO should consider enabling the Podcasting SEO options in PowerPress.

One word of warning about promotion:DO NOT SPAM PEOPLE! – Overdoing any of the above will annoy people. A mention once in a while is good, hammering it several times a day will lose followers and friends.